


She'll Welcome Me Home

by MeredithBrody



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-27 22:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/984256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jon goes to see Erika the night before he leaves for the Expanse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She'll Welcome Me Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [noctiscorvus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noctiscorvus/gifts), [Sokorra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sokorra/gifts).



> So. I watched "Home" earlier and picked up on the fact that Jon and Erika spoke as if they saw each other a year earlier, when Jon left for the Expanse. Beforehand I'd never really paid attention to that part of the scene so missed that Erika and Jon only focused on that time in the "since I've been gone" and the logical conclusion I drew was that they saw each other. I have already written a oneshot where Jon called her, but this is more fitting to what the episode said I think. So this is set toward the end of the season 2 finale "The Xindi"

He hadn't seen her in such a long time, but he knew that this might be the last chance he had. He had been given two days, the same two days his volunteer crew had been given, to wrap up any loose ends they had that needed to be dealt with. He hadn't had many. He'd spoken to his mother on the first day, and that had been hard, but not as hard as this was going to be. He already knew that much.

In his 42 years in this universe he had only truly loved one woman. He had thought he'd loved others, but when he had finally taken a chance on Erika and she'd taken the chance on him, he had realised how wrong he'd been. He and Erika had never had a problem with loving one another, for them both the timing had always been off. But this time her knew that he couldn't risk not telling her that he was still crazy about her. That he still loved her, and that he wanted her to know that before he left.

His entire crew had accepted the likelihood that they wouldn't make it back to Earth after this mission, but he knew that to him it didn't matter. Earth continuing was what mattered most, and if he did his duty and protected his planet, then it was worth giving up his life in the name of. He just didn't want to go and not tell Erika how he felt. He'd assumed at first that she would be on assignment, he'd known that the _Republic_ had left a few days earlier on a short supply run to Vulcan, but he had learnt that she'd stayed behind to attending the briefings instead of Captain Jennings. Her personnel file had said she still lived in the same building, the building they'd lived in together. He remembered every inch of that apartment, he wasn't sure if he'd ever forget it.

He arrived on her doorstep, and pressed the buzzer. He knew it was late, knew she was possibly asleep or getting ready for the next day, but he was still there, still just hoping that she was going to listen to him, and let him tell her that she was important.

"Jonathan?" She asked when she made it down the two flights of stairs from her apartment to the door. She clearly hadn't gotten the buzzer fixed in the last 8 years since he'd broken it, maybe she just didn't want too, there were good memories associated with that broken buzzer. He smiled as she stepped back and let him past her. He hovered on the side of the door as she stepped back around him and turned the light off again.

"Hi. Sorry it's so late." He said, following her as she started up the stairs. He knew this climb as well as he did the one in his own apartment building. He had live here for three years, and they were three of the best years he could think of.

Erika shook her head as she kicked her door open again then stopped, turning around to face him. "No, come in. I was just getting ready for bed." She motioned to the actually-clean room, and he wasn't sure what she was showing, that she was going to bed or that she could occasionally be clean. "What's wrong?" She asked a few seconds later when he hadn't said anything else. Jon still hesitated to move away from the door, he hadn't expected to be here for more than a few minutes, so he just shrugged before he started talking.

"You know where I'm going tomorrow?"

"Everyone in the fleet knows where you're going Jon. Be safe, OK?" Erika smiled a little, taking a few steps closer to him. He couldn't help but find those words to be a little ironic considering where he was going, where he was taking his ship.

"I intend to be. As safe as you can be hunting a genocidal weapon." The words slipped out, and instead of being angry with him Erika just stepped closer and lifted his chin a little, stopping him looking at the ground.

"Jon." She scolded lightly once he met her eyes. Once he did that he knew that she was inside his mind. She knew what was going on in his mind, so if he wanted to tell her, there was no better time.

"Sorry." He muttered, and took hold of her hand. Trying to stop her from backing off as she would try, he still knew her as well as she knew him. "I came here to tell you that I love you, still. I couldn't go without letting you know that. I made a lot of mistakes a few years ago, and I didn't fight as hard as I probably should have done, and I'm sorry for that." He did it. He managed to apologise, and tell her that he still loved her. That was why he was here, and until that moment he'd thought he would leave without saying it. Erika surprised him by chuckling and shaking her head, and he wondered briefly what made her laugh.

"You shouldn't be, we both played our part. You are going to do something important, something that matters. How about I make you a promise, I'll be here when you get back. To welcome you home."

"I hope I come home."

"You will, Jonathan. Believe that and it will be true." She smiled, and the advice was something she'd given him hundreds of times before. Before any mission, any test, and any meeting with her brother. This time though, it didn't lift him.

"You don't know that." He shook his head, there was no guarantee that he would make it back from this mission, and she knew that. She couldn't know that he would make it home.

"Yes I do." She stepped up and kissed him on the cheek then wrapped her arms around him, and he couldn't help but hold onto her tightly. She had always had more confidence in him than he'd had in himself, so if she said he would make it home, he'd choose to believe her. She stepped back after a few minutes of holding him and smiled sadly. "Be safe Jon, I love you." She kissed her hand and placed it against his cheek. Stepping back inside her apartment door and hovering before saying anything again. "I'll write you."

"I love you." He said again, returning her sad smile and turning away, running down the stairs and hoping to be several floors away before she shut the door. No longer able to hold himself in check any longer. He only hoped that Erika's assertion that she was going to be waiting when he got home was prophetic. That was something he could hold onto at the very least.


End file.
